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Pistons ‘not in a good place,’ so players call for team meeting after home loss

AUBURN HILLS – Whatever the Pistons’ shortcomings might be, denial isn’t one of them. A 3-5 record against an easier run of opponents than came before – or awaits them now – since Reggie Jackson’s return, capped by back-to-back weekend losses marked by defensive ruptures, sparked a team meeting and has Stan Van Gundy contemplating lineup changes.

It was 45 minutes after the game ended before the doors to the locker room swung open, a meeting suggested by Aron Baynes that “put a lot of stuff on the table,” Marcus Morris said.

“Just a dialogue. Why we’re playing the way we’ve been playing,” Tobias Harris said. “And what we can do to be better. It was good to just get everybody talking and see different opinions of what’s happening. At the same time, we’ve got to find a way to figure it out to be better. That’s what we really wanted to get across.”

Van Gundy, who said “we’re not in a good place right now” after the game, identified one significant issue he sees. Frustration at the offensive end – some because players feel they aren’t getting enough touches, some because they’re struggling to get shots to fall – is spilling over to the defensive side.

“It shouldn’t and it’s not a legitimate excuse, but I’m just giving you the facts. That’s exactly what’s happened. Our offensive frustration is affecting us at the defensive end. We’re losing heart a little bit and that’s concerning.”

Van Gundy saw it Saturday. The Pistons went on an early spurt to take a 16-7 lead, but quickly gave it up when shots stopped falling. Assistant coaches Bob Beyer and Tim Hardaway talked about it late in the game.

“I think they’re exactly right,” Van Gundy said. “Our guys came into the game ready to play, had some energy, and at really the first sign of offensive frustration, we just quit putting the necessary effort into the game at the defensive end and it just steamrolled. I thought they were ready early, but it didn’t last long.”

Morris, often cited by Van Gundy as an example of a player with the selflessness coaches covet, said he sees and understands players’ frustrations when the ball doesn’t find them when it should.

“If you have a guy wide open, he has to get the ball. It builds guys’ confidence, it makes the game funner. If we’re not playing the right way, it’s frustrating.”

“We have to get back to getting more movement,” Harris said. “We know when we play against teams that don’t have good ball movement, don’t have a bunch of actions going, they’re easy teams to guard. So we’ve got to be that team that’s not like that.”

Jackson missed two months as he recovered from left knee tendinosis. His return came after the best stretch of the season, a 3-0 road trip that included wins against three 2016 playoff teams. He’s shown flashes of his explosiveness and says he feels fine physically now after struggling with his conditioning early, but the offense has sputtered since his return with the transition from Ish Smith to him.

“There’s no question we haven’t been as good,” Van Gundy said. “We’ve played eight games – I think I’m right – seven of them against teams below .500. And we’re three and five. That’s just a fact. Now, is that all on him? No. Nope, we have a lot of guys not playing as well. But if you’re asking in the eight games have we gotten better? No. Hell, we’ve gotten worse.”

“Not playing defense, honestly,” Jackson said of the tailspin. “That’s what it comes down to. We’re not all five protecting each other, all out there working for each other on the defensive end.” Asked if the defensive issues resulted from offensive frustration, as Van Gundy posited, Jackson said, “I’m sure that has something to do with it.”

Enough of it bubbled to the surface to provoke the unusual step of a lengthy postgame team meeting. Morris had the last word.

“I did a lot of talking. I said at the end of the meeting, we have to make a decision. Everybody go home tonight, decide on what you want to do. If you want to be a winning team? You want to continue to get embarrassed? You’re going to play for the next man beside you or are you going to play for yourself? If you continue to play for yourself, this is what it’s going to be. That’s just how it goes.”